"We know that law enforcement and intelligence agencies face significant challenges in protecting the public against crime and terrorism," Pichai said. "We build secure products to keep your information safe and we give law enforcement access to data based on valid legal orders. But that's wholly different than requiring companies to enable hacking of customer devices and data."

Pichai's tweets come after a court ordered Apple to help the iPhone unlock an iPhone owned by one of the San Bernardino shooters. The iPhone 5c is currently locked, and the FBI does not want to trigger an auto-wipe function if it makes too many incorrect password guesses. So it wants Apple to remove the remote-wipe function so it can start an automated password-guessing process.

Apple, however, has refused to comply. It says the order is a slippery slope because if Apple creates a workaround for the FBI, what's to stop that from falling into the hands of terrorists or other criminals, who might use it for nefarious purposes?

"The government is asking Apple to hack our own users and undermine decades of security advancements that protect our customers—including tens of millions of American citizens—from sophisticated hackers and cybercriminals," Cook wrote in a Tuesday letter published to the company's website.

The memo attracted the attention of everyone from WhatsApp creator Jan Koum to Internet rights advocates to presidential hopefuls.

http://www.apple.com/customer-letter/ - I have always admired Tim Cook for his stance on privacy and Apple's efforts to...

The Reform Government Surveillance campaign, meanwhile, of which Microsoft is a member, on Wednesday said "it is extremely important to deter terrorists and criminals and to help law enforcement by processing legal orders for information in order to keep us all safe.

"But technology companies should not be required to build in backdoors to the technologies that keep their users' information secure," it continued. "RGS companies remain committed to providing law enforcement with the help it needs while protecting the security of their customers and their customers' information."

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, meanwhile, criticized Apple for denying the government request. "To think that Apple won't allow us into [the] cell phone? Who do they think they are?" he said during a Wednesday Fox & Friends interview. "No, we have to open it."

During a CNN town hall on Wednesday, Sen. Ted Cruz had a similar take, as did Ben Carson. Sen. Marco Rubio, however, acknowledged the unintended consequences of creating a backdoor. "I don't have a magic solution for it today — it's a complicated new issue," he said.

Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton went a step further, saying that Apple is protecting a dead ISIS terrorist's privacy over the security of the American people.

"The problem of end-to-end encryption isn't just a terrorism issue. It is also a drug-trafficking, kidnapping, and child pornography issue that impacts every state of the Union," Cotton said in a statement. "It's unfortunate that the great company Apple is becoming the company of choice for terrorists, drug dealers, and sexual predators of all sorts."

Related

Apple started encrypting its mobile OS by default beginning with iOS 8, and Google did the same with Lollipop. The move was in large part a response to the Edward Snowden docs and revelations that the feds were using more invasive technology to spy on citizens than most people thought.

States like New York and California have introduced bills that would ban the sale of encrypted devices. Last week, however, two members of Congress introduced a bill that would thwart state efforts to weaken smartphone encryption.

Stephanie began as a PCMag reporter in May 2012. She moved to New York City from Frederick, Md., where she worked for four years as a multimedia reporter at the second-largest daily newspaper in Maryland. She interned at Baltimore magazine and graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (in the town of Indiana, in the state of Pennsylvania) with a degree in journalism and mass communications.
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